A recent development in the field of electro-mechanics has been the miniaturization of various mechanical devices. These "micro-mechanical" devices are manufactured using integrated circuit techniques. Typical of such devices are tiny motors, used in applications such as medicine.
Reliability has been difficult to achieve with micro-mechanical devices. A common reliability problem is sticking, which occurs when the device has a moving part that contacts another surface of the device. The moving element may become stuck against that surface, causing the device to cease to operate properly.
The cause of the sticking is often attributed to an attractive inter-molecular force commonly referred to as the Van der Waals force. This force is related to surface energy, and increases as the surface energy increases. Existing approaches to avoiding sticking have been directed to avoiding or overcoming this force by careful selection of the materials used for the contacting surfaces.